


The Secret Room

by skyoung200



Series: Fairy Tale Loving Smaurent Grown Up [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Damen puts up with all of his husbands shenanigans lovingly, Light Angst, Lost Memories, M/M, Short, baby smaurent, based on my headcanon that baby laurent loved fairy tales, canon world, fairy tale, good older brother Auguste, part of a little series, secret rooms, weird Veretian architecture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyoung200/pseuds/skyoung200
Summary: Laurent counted the windows of his chambers from the courtyard again and muttered to his husband, "There are more windows out here than inside our chambers and I....I think I remember why."





	The Secret Room

Laurent had honestly forgotten the room existed.

The last time he had cracked open that small panel door in his wardrobe was just after his brother had passed.

It was his brother who helmed the project to create for his ever curious and wonder filled baby brother, his own magical secret hideaway. It wasn’t terribly hard. The prince’s chambers were spacious and setting up a wall with a functional wardrobe to hide a small door was done in no time. All the workers sworn to absolute secrecy meant that no one else knew this room existed.

August had spared no expense in decorating it either.

There was a myriad of stunning stained-glass pieces, all based on Laurent’s favorite tales, backlit by candles or for some actual sunlight, but those windows faced inner courtyards, seeming inconspicuous from the outside so as not to give away the location of the room. There were also some custom weaved tapestries hanging on the walls. Their mother had had them commissioned when Laurent was born, and each was a story in pictures meaning before Laurent could even read, he was enthralled by fantasy. The furniture was all overly stuffed and soft in a way both brothers apricated despite it not being quite acceptable or in fashion for common place furniture. There were plenty of shelves for books and various adventuring equipment to be stored on.

The reveal. It was something burned forever in both their memories.

Laurent had been sleeping in Auguste’s room at his brothers request for the whole time of construction. Auguste had made something up about an errant goblin trying to scare him in his sleep and needing his strong protective brother with him to save the day. It worked like a charm and Laurent was none the wiser. So, when the project was finally done and stories about goblins resolved, Auguste showed Laurent the new secret room.

The mere idea of a hidden door had Laurent nearly bursting with excitement let alone when August actually showed him how to open the panel and crouch through. Oh, and when he saw the room. Little Laurent was literally vibrating in place and with a simple nod of ‘go on’ from August he turned into a small hurricane of business inspecting every corner of the room with intensity.

For hours and hours, Laurent inspected everything, taking Auguste around and explaining all the stories and pictures and details as if Auguste hadn’t created the room or read him all these stories at some point before. Auguste followed along feigning wonder but feeling genuine happiness. It all came to an end that evening when Laurent curled up on a large comfortable mattress on the floor, Auguste next to him reading from a well-worn book of fairy tales, all the candles in the room burning low from being lit all day, and he completely fell asleep. A gentle snore and soft breaths were all the noise he made as Auguste finished reading the tale and laid down himself to join him.

Oh, that joyful day. Laurent choked back some tears just thinking about it, tracing the panels details with his fingers. As he touched the heavy locks, some sad memories came back too.

He hadn’t wanted to reveal this safe haven to his uncle. He had done his damndest to keep it a secret. Only going in when it was night, not lighting candles, making sure the panel was always set just right to keep it completely disguised. But it wasn’t enough. His uncle seemed to know all. And he had sealed the door. A heavy set of locks were installed and the keys hidden away. Laurent had luckily taken some of the most important books and objects and hidden them deep in the library, paranoid always his uncle would find them and burn them. So, he never really went back to check on them after stashing them away. Some other items were hidden in Auguste’s rooms that no one else dared to enter. But his special hide away was sealed. And the wardrobe was filled. And Laurent’s mind was filled with more haunting things, stealing away and covering so many good memories.

But Laurent had been finding the good again recently. Like the books which had survived in their hide away. Which after a few months of rereading in the inner courtyard, brought back memories of the space his brother had made him. It really was an odd chance. He was reading a fable about characters in glass coming to life at night and dancing around, wanting freedom from their small world. The illustrations had made him think of the windows around him and as he looked up at the ones for his own chambers he glanced slightly to the side. Those windows, he couldn’t remember them at first, they didn’t seem to line up with the number of windows he knew his room had. Damen had stepped out into the gardens then, seeing his husband furiously counting windows and keeping his treasured book open to a specific page.

“Laurent, would you like to tell me what you are doing now? Another fairy spotting?” Damen joked lightly. That fairy hunt in the winter had opened the floodgates of Laurent’s childish imagination and Damen had grown used to his husband joking and pretending those fables were real. So, he was wondering if this was another occurrence of this growing fantastical trend.

Laurent responded softly without stopping his counting and recounting, “There are more windows outside than there are inside our chambers. And I think I-I… remember why.” Damen looked up and counted as well. His brow furrowed; Laurent was right.

“So, uh… what is it then?” Damen felt a little unsettled, he never really expected any of Laurent’s imaginings to manifest in such a real way.

Laurent picked up his book, closing it gently and tucked it under his arm. “There’s a secret room in the back of our wardrobe.” He said in a calm even tone, like it wasn’t a completely bizarre idea, and then took off running back to their chambers.

Damen followed after him, needing to see this for himself. He knew Veretians had complicated architecture and had a flair for the extra, but a hidden room? It was a little beyond belief. Especially it having been so close for so long yet going completely unnoticed.

By the time Damen caught up Laurent was already completely tearing apart their wardrobe tucked away in the corner of the room. They didn’t use it often. It was filled with heavy chests of childhood clothing Laurent still refused to let go. Laurent was trying to move them, clearly struggling. Damen sighed and smiled slightly.

“Let me help” Damen said as he stepped up next to Laurent and helped him drag the chest across the floor. The carpet was crumpled, various free-floating clothing articles were thrown, many chests scratched across the stone and none of that seemed to bother or distract Laurent from his intense focus.

With Damen’s strength it wasn’t long before the wardrobe was cleared. Laurent grabbed a candle and walked in. Dropping to his knees he held the light up to what would have been a normal panel if not for the series of locks on its edge. Damen could barely believe his eyes. But there it was. A locked door. And Laurent stayed crouched there. Lost in memories for a while.

Then Laurent cursed and stood back up. “Now we find the fucking keys.” He had a scowl on his face but the determination was still there.

He barreled out of the wardrobe, then out of their cambers. He started giving orders, scour the castle for old sets of keys most likely with the Regents belongings, or hidden. When that seemed not to fully motivate the staff as he wanted, he offered a ridiculous reward in gold, which even Damen baulked at but there was no stopping Laurent now. That promise of reward certainly got people moving.

The castle seemed to cease functioning properly for two days while everyone focused on finding these mystery keys.

They were hidden in a least suspected place. The crypt keeper had come forward at the end of the second day with a set of keys. “I found them years ago but they had been so deeply hidden in the fallen Prince’s tomb and with no label I figured they should stay there safe until they were needed. I’m sorry it took so long to get these to you, your Highness.” The crypt keeper spoke softly, handing the keys over with a slight bow. Laurent felt only relief at the keys being found.

“Thank you. Your reward shall be delivered swiftly. I have a room to unlock.” Laurent, focused only on the keys in his hands, gave an absent smile and a rattle of the keys before turning away and walking to his chambers.

The number of keys matched the number of locks and each had a unique design and decoration showing clearly which belonged to which. When Damen saw the keys, he felt relief, passing a message to Nikandros to please get the staff informed and back to their normal duties, there had been enough chaos.

Damen reentered their chambers and closed their doors for privacy just as Laurent was opening the final lock on the door. The heavy lock hit the floor with a loud clunk and Laurent seemed to pause, unsure of himself. Damen picked up another candle and crouched down beside his lover. “What next, sweetheart?” He snuck in the cheeky nickname which tended to spark a bit of fire and energy into the man, and it worked.

Laurent gave him a playful glare. “I open the door and crawl in. I wonder if you’ll even fit.” He has a bit of snark in his voice and Damen chuckles.

“We’ll see but first you have to open it because I can’t even see how you would from here.” He nods to the panel that even with the locks opened, still gave no clue as to how the hidden hinges would work.

Laurent turned and gently pushed on the panel. It slid back slightly and then Laurent changed the way he pushed. The panel slid left into a sort of carved out slit, allowing the small door way to be completely open without the door swinging either way and taking up space. There was a soft click as the door clicked into place, now set open, not to move to close until a button inside the room released the mechanism slowly.

The first thing that hit them both was a strong smell of dust and must. Then there was the sight of the room. Everything covered in a clear layer of dust, explaining the smell. There were cobwebs in corners, overturned furniture and books, old candles who hadn’t been burned in so long, and the tapestries and windows. The few windows which faced the courtyard were providing a sort of dancing colorful light across the space, the only other light being from their candles. They also provided the only color. Everything else had seemed drained of life and spirit. The tapestries seemed aged, bug eaten, and had spots of sun bleaching from the few glimpses the windows provided.

Laurent crawled all the way into the space. He set about lighting all the candles around the room and Damen, when he finally managed to force his larger frame awkwardly through the smaller door, helped.

With more candle light, the room seemed to gain a bit of life back. Laurent looked around and smiled softly. “Guess we’ve got a secret hide out to redecorate and I’ve got some stories to tell.”

**Author's Note:**

> Another little short of Laurent finding old memories and regaining parts of his lost childhood. Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think of it!


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